At the age of 5, I went to school for the first time. On the very first day, I saw a child of my age, who was sitting outside the school and looking at my shoes. He had a shoe polishing bag in his hands. I felt very strange to see him. My first question to the school teacher was, why is that boy sitting outside? He replied, It is very normal for poor children to do such work. One day I asked the boy’s father the same question.
He replied, the child’s father and grandfather also used to polish shoes. Taking the matter further, he said, you do not know that people like you are born to go to school and people like us to work. School was over, electrical engineering graduate. But, this question remained in my mind.
Started doing the job, but the mind kept revolving around this question. In the end I quit my job. Established ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ in the year 1980 and started working full time for children, which continues till today.
Kailash Satyarthi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, gave this question on behalf of UNESCO on the question of Marie de Sausa.
In the early days, Satyarthi began writing articles against child labor and printed his pamphlet and distributed it to the people in the market. He believed that education and freedom are two sides of the same coin. Satyarthi continued to work for 6 years. In 1986, a law was enacted in India against child labor. However, this too was not perfect. In such a situation, Satyarthi’s struggle continued.
People insulted
Satyarthi says that people started humiliating him when he started trying to free the children working in factories or factories or elsewhere and asked him to go to school. I was told that the children are dirty. Nobody cares for them. They cannot be kept with the rest of the children in school.
According to Satyarthi’s website, during the rescue of child laborers, they have been attacked several times. In this, he was seriously injured in 2004 when he rescued child artists from the Great Roman Circus in Meerut, UP. At the same time, in March 2011, a textile factory in Delhi was raided by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan team, after which Satyarthi was attacked.
Big success in the year 2001
Satyarthi spoke to his friends working in the legal field on this issue. He said that the main reason is that there is no law in the Constitution about the imperative of education. In such a situation a big campaign was launched in the year 2001, after which the 86th amendment was made in the constitution and education became a human right.
It took two decades for the right to education to become a global issue. Satyarthi says that before the beginning of ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’, no part of the United Nations, like the International Labor Organization (ILO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) or even the World Bank, did any work on child labor. .
Satyarthi started seeing at global level from here. Studied Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh and found that the situation of bonded child labor is similar there. Meanwhile, he started participating in the program of Human Rights Commission to be held in Geneva and started working towards bringing international law against child labor.
Worked in many countries
Satyarthi also started work in Europe, America and Germany. In 1992, an international program on the elimination of child labor (ILO) was made for the first time. The impact of this program was so wide that soon UNICEF and World Bank also joined it.
What is the work of Save Childhood Movement
> Creating a society where every child gets education.
> Every child can be kept free from exploitation.
> Public Awareness Campaign, Activities.
> Runs programs in villages under the Child Friendly Village Program. The villages which become child labor free are called Bal Mitra Gram.
> All children should enroll in the local school.
> Children should have direct contact with Bal Panchayat.
> Campane designs according to law to protect children.
> Works with state governments to restore children.
In 1993, the ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ took out a first march against child labor. In 1998, a global march of 80,000 km was carried out in 103 countries which lasted for about 6 months. It then called for a march of 11,000 km for 36 days in India.
Born in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh in 1954, Satyarthi’s ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ spread to 750 organizations and has more than 80 thousand committed members. They are working all over the world.
The Nobel Committee said this
While giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Kailash Satyarthi, the Nobel Committee had issued a statement saying that this award is being given for the education of all the children of the world and their struggle against their oppression. The financial-mental exploitation of children should stop and every child should be sent to school. 60% of the world’s population is under 25 years of age.
Satyarthi has received this award
> The Aikner International Award from Germany in the year 1994
> ‘The Trumpeter Award’ in the year 1994
> US ‘Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award’ in 1995
> 1998 ‘D Golden Wimple Award’
> La Hospitalet Award in the year 1999
> Italy’s ‘Medal of Italian Senate’ in the year 2007
> ‘Alphonso Comin International Award’ in 2008
> America’s ‘Defenders of Democracy Award’ in 2009
> 2014 ‘Nobel Peace Prize’
> ‘Harvard Humanitarian Award’ in 2015
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Inputs: www.indiatimes.com
